Restless reader

— Run Like a Mother

By Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea (Andrews McMeel Publishing, March), 224 pages, $14.99.

Don’t tell me, let me guess. The authors got a book contract to train together for a marathon, kept a journal of smart-alecky remarks disparaging running and themselves and then, who knows why, had their drivel published.

Whoa, pony! No. This is an adroit humor book by two professional freelancers who were runners years before they got the book deal.

Oh, so this is one of those books by athletic know-it alls that is supposed to inspire women but instead makes them feel inadequate? Although there’s no predicting what can make some people decide they are being made to feel like failures, the tone here isn’t smug. It’s funny.

Two very different personalities, both harried mothers, converse, opine and riff about why and how they run. Dimity McDowell’s not particularly competitive; Sarah Bowen Shea wants to win. Both embrace their running as an excuse to be alone, to escape from family duties for a brief time most every day. They don’t romanticize the effort of running and they don’t pretend it isn’t a bit selfish - they simply insist that it’s essential.

McDowell says, “It robs my breath and makes my heart work ridiculously hard.It feels so belittling that all those thousands of miles I’ve run up to this point can sometimes seem to amount to absolutely nothing. And yet, on days when I’m sure somebody has traded the insoles in my shoes for 5-pound weights, I’m still happy to be there for one simple reason: I am alone with my thoughts and tunes.”

Bowen Shea doffs her cap to women who patiently spend every waking minute serving others. She can’t do it. This, among other charming admissions, conveys self-acceptance, not a sense of superiority.

Bowen Shea somehow remains likable despite her brazen admission that she brags about being speedy. “And God love Facebook: It gives me a whole new outlet for boasting,” she says.

What’s cool about her, though, isn’t her speed but the ease with which she conveys that she’s driven without implying that it makes her better.

McDowell, meanwhile, mildly conveys that she can’t sustain the interest needed to keep a training log.

They are so different that their alternating essays read like a conversation. The book opens with a literal conversation between them, e-mails exchanged over two years in which they brainstormed ways of getting themselves a writing gig related to running.

Finally they landed an assignment with Runner’s World magazine to train together for the 125-mile TransRockies Run. But immediately they realized they were too wimpy or busy (take your pick) to pull off a relay requiring 20-milers every day for six days without losing their families in the process. Their editor persuaded the magazine to scale down the job so they could simply train for the 2007 Nike Women’s Marathon instead.

Is this a bathtub book? Is there obvious padding - random lists of songs from their iPods or other nonsense teased off the tops of their heads? This is most definitely a tub book. But among the sometimes lame jokes, up pops an unexpected gem, like their nine-point plan for making sure you look fleet in midrace photos. The advice ranges from grabbing a pal’s hand as you pass the shooter to remembering not to wear bunchy shorts.

Most of the topics would interest any woman who runs, mother or not, but they do include two chapters that walk through the weeks of pregnancy and postpartum recovery. But more typical are chapters like “Marriage: The Significance of the Other” and “Potty Talk.”

Any truly unexpected information? If you lose the valet key to your car by tying it into shoelaces that come untied, it might cost $3,000 to get a new key. Their friend this happened to wound up buying a new car because her old one needed a new transmission anyway.

Who are the authors?

McDowell and husband Grant have two children, a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old. They live in Denver. She took up jogging in college during off-season training for crew and continues today because it doesn’t take a lot of time.

Bowen Shea and husband Jack have three children, including preschool twins. They live in Portland, Ore. She also rowed crew in college, but she says she became even more athletic after she had children. “The busier I was the more focused I became.”

ActiveStyle, Pages 28 on 03/29/2010

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